Smudge's Quest - p1
by puppydogsgalore
Summary: Smudge wants to go find his friend Rusty - but is he ready to see what his friend has become? Smudge, an ordinary house-cat, misses his friend Rusty, who is now living in the tense forest. He goes on an epic adventure to find his friend... but can they stop Shadowclan before it's too late?
1. Thunderclan

Smudge listened to Rusty's owners calling out to try to find the lost cat. He jumped onto the fence and saw Hattie in the garden. Hattie was fun to be around, but Smudge wanted Rusty—Rusty ONLY. "Hmph," the black and white cat sighed. "If only Rusty hadn't joined those forest cats." It had been a full year since Rusty had left for the clans. Smudge grew tired of Hattie's squealy mew. "I could go and have a look in there…" he thought. He glanced at the forest. His paws trembled, staring into the darkness of the forest. Then, he decided that he WOULD go to look for his friend. That's what real friends do, anyway. He padded off into the forest. When he got there, he stared into the undergrowth. He sniffed the air to check for cat-scent. Then he was relieved when he realized he smelled Rusty. He had to use his wits to follow the smell…right to Thunderclan camp. There were wild cats here, so he tried his best to stay hidden. He creeped among the crowd until he stopped. There was the smell of metal here, just like the smell of the tag on his collar. It was underground. "Something that leads me to Rusty must be here, if I looked hard enough," Smudge said. With that, he began digging. After a while, he found an object. A round, blue object with a tag in the middle that had 'Rusty' on it. "Rusty's collar!" he exclaimed. He examined the long tear in the center, and soon discovered that the collar was split in half. Just then, a voice interrupted his search for evidence of the disappearance. "Smudge?" Smudge looked up, and saw an orange tabby, with light green eyes staring down at him. Instantly, he recognized the cat. "RUSTY!" cried Smudge. Firestar smiled slightly at the sight of his friend. "Please," he said, staring down at Smudge, "call me Firestar."


	2. Spottedpaw

"Okay, R—Firestar," Smudge said. " I'm surprised that you would come out this far, just to see me," Firestar said. Smudge's fur blew in the cold winds. He nodded. "I am now the leader of Thunderclan. I may never come home – this is my home now." Smudge nodded again. "When do I get to see you again?" Smudge asked. Firestar smiled. "Depends," he said, "How much do you want to see me?" Smudge knew that he needed to see his childhood friend as much as possible. "EVERY DAY! ALL THE TIME! FOR A MILLION BILLION YEARS!" Smudge said excitedly. Firestar laughed quietly under his breath. "How would you like to join Thunderclan?" he said, after a second. Smudge was so excited that he couldn't speak. After a while, he said, "I..I'd love to." Firestar nodded. "I can trust you, my friend, to be loyal to Thunderclan." Firestar said. Smudge mewed excitedly. "But, we have to get rid of your collar there." Firestar said, pointing. Then, he pulled out a claw and scratched the collar off of Smudge's white neck. "Thank you!" said Smudge. Firestar stood silent, staring at him, then turned back to the crowd of clan cats. "Cats of Thunderclan,"he said, "Until this apprentice gets his warrior name, he will be called Spottedpaw." Spottedpaw looked pridefully down at his new friends, each of which were chanting his new name. He could be with his childhood friend again. He could leave his kittypet past behind him.

He Was Free.


	3. Training

That night, Spottedpaw lay asleep in the apprentice den. Then, he heard a voice, that woke him up from his dream. "Spottedpaw, wake up!" He opened one eye to find himself face-to-face with a sandy colored she-cat with golden eyes. "We have to get to training." Spottedpaw stood up and walked with her to the training site. "Who are you?" Spottedpaw asked curiously. "I'm Sandpaw." The kitten answered. At the training site, Lionheart waited for them. "Hello, young ones. Today we are going to talk about hunting mice." He said. "You have to be very quiet and sneak across the floor." Lionheart demonstrated, then left it to the young apprentices. Sandpaw was a good crawler, but Lionheart praised Spottedpaw for his slowness. "After you sneak up on the mouse, you LIGHTLY pounce on it, like this." Lionheart demonstrated again. Sandpaw was praised this time. It kept going on and on, until Lionheart ended the training session and let them go back to sleep. Spottedpaw's dream was of him chasing a mouse across a big field, using all the techniques that Lionheart had shown him and Sandpaw. He eventually caught it and began eating it, which lasted until he woke up…about an hour. It was weird, because it took him an hour to eat a stinking mouse.


	4. The Vision

It was now leaf-bare. It had been moons since the first day of training. Spottedpaw was now Spottedheart. He had earned his warrior name, and he was proud of it. It was late night. Him and Firestar were off to fight Tigerstar. Tigerstar fleed before they attacked, and used his sharp claws to cut across the bark of a tree. Spottedheart ran, but Firestar didn't have enough time. The tree fell and crushed him. "RUSTY!" cried Spottedheart. Sandstorm stood and cried, her ears tilted back. Squirrelflight was so sad, she didn't know what to say. "Is he dead?!" cried Graystripe. Then, Spottedheart's eye flew open. His pulse was racing. He was in the Leaders den, sleeping with Firestar for the night. "It was just a dream," he sighed, his pulse slowing. Firestar's eyes came open. " What's the matter, Spottedheart?" he asked. "Are you dead?" asked Spottedheart. "No. I don't know what kind of nightmares you're having, but feel better. I'm CERTAINLY not dead." Firestar said, and with that, he went back to sleep. Spottedheart thought about the dream for a second, and then realized its purpose….it was a warning from Starclan! A warning about Firestar's death.. a year in the future! He had to tell the others.. he couldn't let his best friend die like that. Not with him by his side. The warrior would protect the leader… so says the warrior code.


	5. Spottedleaf's help

He decided to go to the Medicine Den. "Spottedleaf?" asked the white and black kitten. The tortoiseshell she-cat turned around and faced him. "Oh, hello Spottedheart. What do you need today?" she said cheerily. "..You get messages from Starclan, right? Like, like in the form of dreams and stuff?" he asked her. Her happy expression melted into some form of confusion he didn't recognize. "Yes, but what is this about..?" she asked him. "I think I may have gotten one.." he admitted. "Impossible.. tell me more about the dream," she said. He retold as much as possible. "Firestar died in the dream, and.. then it just stopped… I woke up, just like that.. then I saw a shooting star outside." Spottedleaf seemed interested in what he was saying. "I see.. in that case, I guess it could have been a dream sent from Starclan," she replied. Spottedheart twitched his long whiskers. "What do I do about it?" he asked. "Continue what you normally do, and if you encounter anything similar to the dream, try to stop what happened." She said. "Thank you, Spottedleaf." He said. He turned and started for the exit. All of a sudden, the medicine cat's voice rang out, "Wait!" He turned back and she came running. She dropped a few berries at his feet. "What are these?" he asked curiously. "Berries that nobody used. If you're ever hungry or sick, they're really tasty and extremely healthy." She replied. "But where did they come from?" he asked. "Just a few wild bushes out near the elders den. I've done some research about different kinds of berries and their uses. Nobody ate these, so, here you go." The cat mewed back. Spottedheart nodded. "Thank you again," he said. He headed for the exit and walked out. "I now have an answer to my problem. Great." He said to himself.


End file.
